(no subject)

So I don't have to go into work until next Tuesday. Works for me. I get to sleep in and I don't have to fight with the construction guys for the bathroom while they replace the ceiling tiles in my office.

Besides that, I get an extra day to recover at home after the Baltimore Marathon. Pretty cool.

In other news, I scheduled another disaster education program for the 25th with Willowdale Kindercare. I'm just all over the map here-8 presentations on fire safety in one day, senior citizens the next. Presentations to middle schoolers on down to pre-k. That'll keep me on my toes.

Back to teaching myself MS Excel. If I just sat around for a week I think I'd go out of my mind.

~Bethany

all the marathons and 1/2 marathons in Maryland

As of 12:30 pm Saturday, I will have run the following marathons and 1/2 marathons in Maryland:

Frederick-full marathon 2003, 2-person relay 2005
Baltimore-1/2 marathon 2004, full marathon 2005
Bachman Valley-1/2 marathon 2004, 1/2 marathon 2005
B&A Trail-1/2 marathon 2005

Up after Baltimore is the NCR Trail Marathon in late-November, where I'll be running the full under 4 hours.

And while I'm thinking about my marathon plans for next year:

A lot of it rides on how well I do at the NCR Trail Marathon. If I barely squeak in under 4 hours, I'll wait until another training cycle for a BQ. If I'm close, I might just take a few weeks to recover and then start right back up with training for the B&A Trail full marathon. And if the planets align just right and I finish the NCR with a BQ of 3:40 or better, I might just have to run Boston. :-)

But conservatively projecting a 3:59 finish, here's what I'm thinking for next year:

B&A Trail 1/2, goal to be determined based on how bad this winter really is.
Frederick 1/2, just because I'm excited that they'll have a 1/2 marathon this year and I can't not run it if I'm working in Frederick. It's on 4/30, so I'd still be able to run the Bay Bridge 10k on 5/7 with my mom, even if I would be pretty sore.
Riley's Rumble 1/2, because I need to add at least one new race a year if I ever want to run all the marathons and 1/2s in Maryland.
Bachman Valley 1/2, if they don't find a new race director I might just have to take that on myself. It's too cute of a race to let it disappear. Now if only they would have had the free apples at the finish this year.
NCR Trail 1/2, because I won't be running the Bachman Valley 1/2 if I'm in charge. That'd be a new race too.
Baltimore 1/2, I'm just doing the full this year to redeem myself.
NCR Trail Marathon, for the BQ that I know I can get after another training cycle if not sooner. 12 week build-up so I don't get burned out by all those miles or all that summer heat.

In an ideal, not-living-on-a-VISTA-paycheck kind of world, I'd love to go down south and run the Mardi Gras Marathon or 1/2 in New Orleans on 2/5. Dunno if I could pull that off though, and it wouldn't be any fun if I did it by myself.

That's 5 1/2s and another full marathon...phew, I'm tired already!

~Bethany